Subedei

At the end of the day, missing 2 GPs means it's going to be difficult for him to secure automatic qualification for next season. But BSI and the FIM have a history of taking into consideration injuries when deciding the seedings and Hampel is probably secure for next season. I don't see a point in him risking further injury to be honest.

I certainly wish Norris well for Cardiff. But, realistically, the guy's never going to be a GP regular. And unless we start throwing youngsters in early, we are going to struggle for GP riders in the future. Look at the Poles. Always giving their youngsters a chance in the GPs as wild cards. I bet they never even considered Protasiewicz for Wroclaw. He's yesterday, Miskowiak and Kasprzak are the future. The Poles even threw youngsters into the SWC last year.

Should've put one of them into the "Wild Card" position. This is just a pointless exercise.

A further thought, both GP finals have been won from gate 3.

cov bees 2005, when Steve posts the ratings - sometime this weekend - you simply pick two riders you think will make the final, allocate your credits, or part of your credits, (you'll start with 80) to those riders and Steve takes it from there. For example, I have 320 credits and intend to go with the following: Jason Crump: 240 credits Tomasz Gollob: 60 credits And Steve, if you read this, those are my picks.

Hope TR is fit and well for the GP and that Ulamek makes a rapid recovery. Never good to hear of riders getting injured. Just looked at the scores and Sullivan had a cracking meeting - 15 point maximum. But an indifferent meeting for Tomasz Gollob.

Interesting. I'd say that TR and Crump, possibly N Pedersen and Adams are likely to make the semis, regardless of their draw. For Krsko, N Pedersen and Adams are filling berths in the six highlighted. All I'm saying is that if you add TR and Crump to Hampel, B Pedersen, Gollob, Adams, Sullivan and N Pedersen, you get a reasonable semi-final line-up.

And spare a thought for Greg Hancock in Ht 17. Andersen, Gollob, N Pedersen, Hancock.

How important is the draw? Well, how about previous draws and the semi-finalists that resulted? Wroclaw: 2, 4, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 15 made the semis. Eskilstuna: 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 13 and 15 made the semis. As you can see, there are 6 matches in a comparison between Wroclaw and Eskilstuna. What do you think? Hampel, B Pedersen, Gollob, Adams, Sullivan and N Pedersen filling those places and all capable of reaching the semis.

That was, I thought, for a minute, a hugely perceptive observation from young Turner. And then I realised it was the next line of the song.

Some would say Ferjan is the "great pretender". Pretending that he's doing well. His need is such, he pretends too much...and, rather embarrassingly, I've forgotten the next line. Oh well, it happens.

TG drawn No 8. Means he's off gate 4 in his first ride and has gate 2 twice. Should be a little better for him than the previous 2 GPs. But who'd change places with Greg Hancock in Ht 17, off gate 4 with Andersen (red), TG (blue) and N Pedersen (white) inside you? Heat 13 looks good, with the clash of the "Big Two" (the Champ in red and TR in blue) together with Lindback (white) and Andersen (yellow). Anyone think the draw makes a significant difference, especially down the order?

I have faith and faith can cause mountains to crumble into rubble. So winning a GP shouldn't be too hard.

Think he means Matej Ferjan is the "real" Matej.

I'd say that Crump hasn't quite found his form so far this season. But his will to win is phenominal and means his statistics don't look that bad. He's averaging over 10 in the Elite League and is only a couple of points adrift in the GPs. And he pulled it out of the bag in the re-run on Saturday. TR's riding like a man possessed at the minute, but TR suffered a mid-season indifferent patch last season and it cost him dear. Don't write off Crump just yet.

Only if they don't make the final will they be haunted by points dropped in the heats. And if one makes the final and the other doesn't, it's a done deal.

I'm going to keep faith: 1. Tomasz Gollob (well, eventually it'll be Bydgoszcz and I might be right) 2. Tony Rickardsson 3. Jason Crump 4. Hans Andersen

It has to be said that there's a case of double standards going on here. When Adams says he's prepared to get "down and dirty" to become champ everyone nods and agrees it's just what has been missing for him.

But will dirt help him if it's his engines rico? Krsko had plenty on last year and the great man struggled. He was making pretty decent starts as well, but people like Bjarne Pedersen were passing him. Krsko's a power circuit with, or without dirt. According to champion in the Polish Results section, Gollob's 3 wins today for Tarnow came on brother Jasek's machine. Time to borrow Jacek's machines for a grand prix?

Well, those were my pre-season thoughts on the Gollob. Yes, it is early days. But with this scoring format it looks very easy to pull out a big gap. And I'd go for Crump and TR to make most, if not all, of the finals. They are also the 2 riders who can pull something that little bit special out of the bag in a final.

Maybe he should try them for the grands prix. Especially with such a power circuit as Krsko coming up.

Okay, this afternoon's Polish results: Zielona Gora 37 : 53 Wroclaw Leszno 49 : 41 Bydgoszcz Gdansk 42 : 48 Tarnow Tomasz Gollob outscoring Tony Rickardsson for Tarnow. Andreas Jonsson riding for Bydgoszcz, but only scoring 10. Zielona Gora still in crisis it seems. Note: Results taken from: http://www.sportowefakty.pl/ekstraliga.htm

I didn't think your post was aimed at me or anyone, but a genuine question regarding the eclipse of one of the fancied runners. I'll keep faith and put a few of my credits on him, but I can't even see him winning Bydgoszcz at this rate. I think he's been left behind by the more professional attitude of Rickardsson, Crump and a host of other riders. He's still got the talent and there's time left for him, but I think he needs a new approach and more power from his engines. Edit: And, in fairness, I guess his own post-mortem on the first 2 grands prix, would include rather rotten draws. Maybe in Krkso he'll find himself with a better draw.

Mine included iris123. But he doesn't look to have the power and - realistically - there looks like no way back for him this season. He must be at least 30 points behind Rickardsson and that's way too much. Time the folk hero accepted that one man and his brother bands aren't going to win any more.

It's early days, I know. Only 2 grands prix raced. But already Jason Crump and Tony Rickardsson have pulled quite a bit in front of everyone else. The current standings are as follows: TONY RICKARDSSON ---- 45 points Jason Crump ---- 43 points Leigh Adams ----33 points Is this going to be a 2 horse race for the crown?